FAGACEAE 



American Chestnut 

 Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. 



HABIT. A handsome tree 60-90 feet high and 2-4 feet in 

 diameter (max. 120 by 10 feet); frequently divided trunk; 

 broad, open crown with large, horizontal branches. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; deciduous; oblong-lanceolate; 

 5V^-8 inches long; penniveined coarsely serrate with sharp, 

 glandular teeth; acuminate; thin; yellow-green; glabrous. 



FLOWERS. Monoecious; apetalous; appearing after the 

 leaves; in staminate and bisexual aments; the staminate aments 

 in 3-7-flowered cymes, each flower with 10-20 stamens; the 

 pistillate flowers solitary or in clusters of 2-3. 



FRUIT. A rounded, flattened, chestnut-brown, edible nut 

 Yi-l inch long; 2-3 nuts completely enclosed in a 2-4 valved, 

 globose bur, 2-2 J/^ inches in diameter and covered with prickly, 

 sharp, branched spines; maturing in one year. 



TWIGS. Rather stout; round; lustrous; chestnut-brown; 

 glabrous; pith stellate. Winter buds; terminal absent, lateral 

 ovoid, acute, brown H inch long, with 2-3 visible scales. 



BARK. Thick; gray-brown; furrowed, with broad, flat ridges. 



WOOD. Important; rather weak and soft; very durable; 

 ring-porous; used for furniture, poles, posts, ties, and tannin. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Intermediate in tolerance; 

 fast growing; long-lived; taproot; stump sprouts vigorously; 

 threatened with extinction by chestnut blight, a fungal bark 

 disease; varied sites; with mixed hardwoods. 



* * * 



The Chinkapins 

 Four other species of Castanea form small trees or shrubs in 

 the southern states. These are known as Chinkapins and differ 

 from chestnut in having hairy or woolly leaves, woolly twigs 

 and buds, and smaller, single-seeded burs. 



I. Leaves silky hairy to nearly glabrous below, 3-4 inches long; 

 spines on bur scattered and short; North Carolina to Arkansas 



and south C. alnifolia var . Jloridana Sarg., Florida Chinkapin 



1. Leaves woolly below 



2. Spines on bur crowded and slender. 



3. Leaves 5-9 inches long, bristle-tipped; Missouri, Arkansas, 



and Oklahoma C. ozarkensis Ashe., Ozark Chinkapin 



3. Leaves 3-6 inches long with short rigid teeth; N. J. to Mo. 



and south C. pumila (L.) Mill., Alleghany Chinkapin 



2. Spines on bur scattered, short, and stout; leaves 2-3 inches 



long; Coastal Plain, Virginia to Texas 



C. ashei Sudw., Ashe Chinkapin 



['69] 



